Gun control a rational antidote

Monday

Feb 25, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Clive McFarlane

The case for rational and reasonable gun control is not difficult to make, and if you attended a gun violence prevention program at the Boys & Girls Club in Worcester Friday, you might have left wondering why Congress has been so negligent by its inaction.

The forum, hosted by Congressman Jim McGovern, was notable for its presentation of strong statistical evidence supporting the premise that gun control has to be a part of any effort to reduce violence in our society.

Those statistics include more than 30,000 people killed by firearms each year in the U.S. and more than 30 shot and killed each day, half between the ages of 18 and 35, a third under 20.

In comparison, the average annual homicide rate by firearms is fewer than 50 in Japan, fewer than 150 in developed countries such as Germany, Italy, France, and fewer than 200 in Canada.

Studies also show that for every time a gun is used to injure or kill in self-defense, a gun is used 11 times for a completed or attempted suicide, seven times in a criminal assault or homicide, and four times in an unintentional shooting death or injury.

These statistics were confirmed in recent data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the CDC, almost 20,000 of the 30,000 deaths from guns in the U.S. in 2010 were suicides, the third leading cause of death for teens.

“We wouldn’t stand for it if it was a virus attacking our community,” said Dr. Michael Hirsh, acting commissioner of public health for Worcester and panel member. “We would push for an antidote.”

Massachusetts, which has one of the lowest teenage suicide rates in the country, appears to offer a formula for that antidote. Looking at adults with loaded and unlocked household firearms, and at adults with children under 18 with loaded and unlocked household firearms, the state ranks the lowest in the country, according to the CDC.

States with the highest gun ownership rates, such as Wyoming, Montana and Alaska, have the highest suicide rates.

Mr. McGovern has filed bills with other members of Congress that, among other things, would close loopholes such as one in the current law that allows people listed on the terror watch list to purchase firearms; improve background checks; ban assault weapons, and limit magazine capacities.

The pro-gun lobby will tell you, however, that the gun control measures are not the antidote for a problem they believe is more the result of drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness.

Just how tough it would be for Congress to act on the bills that have been filed was perhaps reflected in the attitude of an attendee at the panel discussion, Wayne Cormier, a member of the Oath Keepers, a group that has pledged to disobey “unconstitutional and immoral orders, such as orders to disarm the American people.”

“I have a 6-year-old grandson, and I am going to train him to properly and responsibly use a gun,” Mr. Cormier said. “I am not going to comply with any gun registration or background checks. They are an infringement on my rights as a gun owner.”

It is the constituents represented by Mr. Cormier who are helping to prevent leaders in the U.S. House of Representative from allowing debate on gun control, according to Mr. McGovern, who noted that there are both Republican and Democratic members in Congress who are “co-opted by the extreme elements of the gun lobby.”

“Congress needs to debate this important issue,” he said.

“We need to look at this from a holistic perspective, but we shouldn’t become so overwhelmed by what we have to do that we do nothing. This (gun control measures) is a piece that we need to do.”